Virtual Trainer (1)

I opened my eyes, finding myself in a hallway filled with bustling students that overlooked the training fields and greenhouses of RavenArts. Unlike the last dream I had of this place, the atmosphere was peaceful and bustling. I stumbled to the side as someone knocked into me, but was caught by a pair of large hands. I looked up to see Anton, who had grabbed me, standing next to Li.

"Anton, my man, you have to go to class. If Estelle gets knocked around in the crowd that's her own deal," He laughed.

My mouth opened on its own.

"Shut up. You are such a bully." I could feel my cheeks getting red, and I put my hands on my hips, staring at him indignantly, "I was only standing here to wait for you."

"Oh~ I am honored Lady Estelle," He bowed, and my face warmed even more.

"It wasn't to see you!" I complained, stomping my foot, "You promised to tell me about the rift that appeared over at the Lake."

"Of course of course," He grinned. Anton shook his head and started to walk off, and I waved goodbye.

"So was it actually only a Class 2?" I asked, stepping out of the walkway to lean next to him on the wall.

"Yup. Though it could be considered Class 1 cause' the domain was a temperate forest."

"Really? It would've been great to practice in...why did they remove the core?"

"Because they had to. No one expected a rift to appear at the bottom of the lake, so by the time anyone noticed it had almost completely saturated. Apparently, one of the Rankers found it, realized it could break any time, and removed the core singlehandedly."

"Who was it?" I pondered as three dings rang out through the hall, signaling a three-minute warning to get to class.

Li Chen hoisted his bag up onto his shoulder.

"Heard it was Sage. His highness and Go had been off investigating another rift break, and Sage was one of the only combat Rankers around. Didn't even keep the spoils, either. Sold em' all to the school for a third of the price."

"Wow. She's so..." I trailed off, not sure of the word to use.

"Stuck up? Full of herself?" Li filled in, rolling his eyes.

"No!" I shouted at him, "I was going to say cool or mysterious or something. What do you have against her?"

Li put his hands up in defense.

"All I'm saying is it's weird she never does Rift breaks with anyone. She always goes alone, a different excuse each time. Did she really retrieve the core because there 'wasn't enough time,' or was it for another reason? Its worth considering."

I shot him a glare, and when he avoided my gaze I let out a sigh.

"Either way I'm jealous," I lamented, "safe Rifts like that never appear, and since I'm unawakened I'll probably never get to see one. It was the perfect chance." I felt somewhat bitter that Sage could do whatever she wanted without fear of getting hurt.

Rifts were openings to other worlds that had been around for as long as written history. Connections between similar Etheria often caused squeezes in space time and distance, allowing access to other similar, habitable worlds that would normally be light years away. For most of human existence traveling into them wasn't an option, but now in the modern age people were encouraged to train and enter them for the glory of their continent and planet. Of course, only the awakened could do this safely.

I parted ways with Li as the hallway cleared out, and I could feel the dream beginning to dim.

[It is clear there is so much we still don't know.]

Angel materialized by my side, placing a hand on my shoulder. She stared at Li as he walked away, fading from view as the memory became hazy.

I thought about how fast my heart had beat when Li had approached. The way I blushed as he teased me. How once I was free from the grip of the dream, the feelings disappeared entirely.

My vision faded to black, and I woke up.

***

Luckily, June was still sleeping when I left the dorms.

'Did the map say turn left or right here?' I asked Angel, standing in the staircase branching off the cafeteria, leading to the upper floors.

[Right.]

Reaching the top and pushing open the door, I found myself in a long hallway lined with hundreds of rooms that couldn't be bigger than closets to fit in this space. Most of the hallway was blocked by a shimmering barrier and the three large desks that looked to be manning it. There were no people except for one woman sorting papers at the nearest desk.

"Excuse me?" I called, walking towards her, "I'd like to rent a training room."

She looked up at me, one eyebrow raised.

"First year, correct?" She asked putting her papers aside.

"Yes ma'am."

"Wow, 'ma'am'" She mumbled, chuckling just loud enough to hear, "Go ahead and press your IED to the plate." She motioned to the front of the desk.

On the front of the desk was a long thick plate made of the same shimmering material as the IEDs. I bent my wrist and pressed the face of my bracelet against it. There was a faint light and a ding, and the woman nodded.

"You have been registered Lady Estelle," She said, "Your room number is 6. Since you are a first time user I have provided a room with ample instructions on how to connect to the virtual trainer. Just so you are aware, the training facilities, along with the other activities that aren't essential to campus life, are only free for the first half of the semester, to allow first years to acclimate. After that the training rooms will cost 5 credits and hour."

As she finished, she placed her hand to a rune circle on the desk, which lit up as a woosh sound occurred behind me. I turned to see the shimmering barrier was gone.

"May Olyntheo support you, Lady Estelle." She said with a bow.

"Yes...thank you." I replied, heading through the barrier and hearing it zap back in place once I passed.

[The IED and that data plate are both made of a highly conductive material for Etheria called Omul. It doesn't require magic circles to work, and depending on the initial Etheria frequency it is exposed to, it can transmit data from a distance using that particular vibration. It is used to store info by imprinting Etheria onto it, or, in this case, to transfer your information to the desk for her to check your identity.]

'I understood half of that. Maybe.' I thought, finding door 6 along the hall, 'So it's a blank slate essentially. Takes Etheria and or moves it.'

[Precisely.]

I spotted a small square of Omul on the right side of the door and put my IED against it, causing the door to click and crack open. I headed inside, noticing that the back wall was completely covered in instructions on using the facility. There were two imbedded footprints in the center of the room, and a number of cords connected to magic circles hanging from the walls. Other than that the room was empty, filled only with silence and bright white walls. It reminded me of the infirmary room from yesterday.

"This really is just a broom closet." I muttered, glancing over the short instructions.

[What were you expecting?]

"Equipment? A track? Sparring machines?" I shrugged my shoulders.

[Things of a different era I suppose. Why have huge training facilities if you could get the same results with half the supervision, time, and energy?]

"There were training fields though..." I added, recalling the large dirt fields I had seen during the welcoming ceremony.

[Speculating is only wasting time. She put us down for three hours, so let's get to it.]

"I need to get physically stronger though. If this just trains my mind it won't be of much help."

[I don't think that's the case. I recognize some of those runes, and they aren't just for making you hallucinate battle. Now let's go!]

Following the back-wall instructions, I stepped into the footprints which then shrunk to fit my size. I felt a tingle go up my body as I reached for the left cord. I placed the padded magic circle on my upper arm, and the right chord on my inner leg. As I placed them on they blinked and disappeared, leaving only metal ropes behind. The final cord was hanging above me, and I pulled it down.

The last cord had a metallic pad that began to expand the moment I set it on my forehead. I gasped as it covered my eyes and ears, fitting like a mold to my skull. Only my nose and mouth were exposed by the time it was done.

[Now, release an Etherial charge.]

I reached inside of myself for that buzzing feeling, and it came much faster and less painfully then before. I surged it to my limbs and heard something begin to spin. My vision blurred and I reappeared standing in a dark room, wearing a white shirt and lose tan pants.

A notification came up in the darkness, a light green color, different from the system.

Tap difficulty 1 three times for help

Tap realism 1 three times for standard training room

'Do you have an idea of what I should pick?' I asked. I figured a standard training room would be a good idea, but I wanted to double-check.

[For our purposes, let's try difficulty 1, realism 5]

'Are you sure that's safe?'

[Probably.]

I sighed, reaching out to tap the 1 and the 5 respectively.

My vision began to blur again.

'Well, it's all fake anyway, so what's the worst that could happen?'